Max Winter (June 29, 1903 – July 26, 1996) was a

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

businessman and sport executive who helped found the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

Biography

Winter was born in

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(modern day Czechia). He emigrated with his family and settled in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. He graduated from North High School in Minneapolis in 1922 (see North High Polaris for 1922). He attended

Hamline University Hamline University ( ) is a private university in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1854, Hamline is the oldest university in Minnesota, the first coeducational university in the state, and is one of five Associated Colleges of th ...

on a basketball scholarship. Winter opened The 620 Club in 1934 with his brother Henry and boxing manager/promoter Ernie Fliegel as equal partners. Located at 620 Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, the restaurant specialized in turkey. The club was sold in 1971 and revamped the same year to become Moby Dick's bar (aka "Moby's). In 1947, Winter became part owner with Ben Berger, Sid Hartman, and

Morris Chalfen Morris Chalfen (June 3, 1907 – November 4, 1979) was an international impresario and sports entertainment executive. He founded the Holiday On Ice show, and later purchased and relocated a near-extinct National Basketball League (NBL) franch ...

and assumed the general manager duties of the new

Minneapolis Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has a long and storied history, having played and won championships in both the National Basketball League (United States), National Basketball League (NBL) and the Basketball Association of America (BAA) prior to ...

in the National Basketball League. By the mid-1950s, Winter was interested in attracting a pro

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team to Minneapolis. He attempted to get an expansion team in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

; when that failed Winter and his partners joined with the newly created

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

in the fall of 1959. By 1960, with creation of the AFL, the NFL decided to expand to both

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and Minneapolis-St. Paul. Minnesota was granted an NFL franchise at the league owners' meetings in Miami on January 28, 1960. Winter and his group, out of the AFL and received an NFL expansion team that began in the 1961 season. The team was named the

on September 27, 1960. The founding group consisted of Max Winter, Bill Boyer, H. P. Skoglund, Ole Haugsrud and Bernard H. Ridder Jr. Winter remained on the Vikings board of directors until 1989. He served as team president from 1965 to 1987. In 1985, Winter shocked and angered his fellow Vikings owners when he attempted to sell his share of the team to

Irwin L. Jacobs Irwin L. Jacobs (July 15, 1941 – c. April 10, 2019) was an American businessman. He was the CEO of several large corporations, including the boat-building company Genmar Holdings. He earned the nickname "Irv the Liquidator" for his aggressive ...

and Carl Pohlad. The case went to the

Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...

and finally was settled in Winter's favor. https://law.justia.com/cases/minnesota/supreme-court/1987/c5-86-637-2.html

Legacy

When the Minnesota Vikings headquarters and training facility opened in

Eden Prairie Eden Prairie is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. It had a population of 64,198 at the 2020 census, making it the 16th-largest city in Minnesota. The city is adjacent to the north bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from ...

, Minnesota, the Vikings had named it Winter Park, in honor of Max Winter. Their headquarters is now in

Eagan Eagan may refer to: People * Charles Eagan (1921-2010), Canadian scientist * Daisy Eagan (born 1979), American actress * Dennis Eagan (1926–2012), British field hockey player * Eddie Eagan (1897–1967), American sportsman * Edmund Eagan, Canadia ...

, Minnesota.

References

Hamline Pipers men's basketball players 1903 births 1996 deaths Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States American men's basketball players Jewish American sports executives and administrators 20th-century American Jews Minnesota Vikings owners {{Austria-business-bio-stub